Dance in ancient Egypt

The oldest known depictions of dance in this region are found in Predynastic era rock carvings, a linen shroud, a wall painting, a clay model, and pottery in Upper Egypt. The earliest examples of Predynastic dancers come from pottery of the Badarian culture from the 5th millennium BC and Naqada I and Naqada II cultures from the 4th millennium BC. == Dancers ==

File:Twodancers.png|thumb|Tomb of Paheri, Plate V from Petrie's Anhas el Medineh / Herkleopolis Magna Professional groups of singers (ḥsı͗t), musicians (ḥnı͗t or ḥnwt), and dancers (ḥbw) often performed at important festivals and funerary services. These groups were referred to in the Old and Middle Kingdoms as the ḫnr or khener, which in context translates to "musical performers". Khener can also be used to describe a troupe of singers and dancers arranged through a bureau. Victorian scholars often confused the term khener with a harem due to poor understanding of the depictions and cultural differences. The ḫnr appear to have been dominated and headed by females until the latter days of the Old Kingdom. Foreign dancers and musicians became more represented in the New Kingdom. Scholars recognize these dancers' origins by costume, hairstyle, and names in texts among other attributes. They apparently could join an ḫnr, but their participation may have been limited. Scenes in temple reliefs indicate that some cult performances were only reserved for elite Egyptian women. == Costumes and headdress of ancient Egyptian dancers ==

, 13th century BC, New Kingdom Female dancers rarely wore the restrictive ordinary dress – a strapped white sheath starting at the bust and running down to the ankles. An exception in the Old Kingdom was for funeral dances. By the New Kingdom, adult dancers appear more scantily clad, often wearing only a belt or scarf about their hips, sometimes with a transparent robe to allow observation of their bodies. Old Kingdom dancers would wear ribbons around their chests. Female dancers who did not have long hair resorted to wearing wigs styled in the same fashion. Female dancers are also depicted with a tattooed or painted symbol on their thigh of Bes, a god of fertility and childbirth affiliated with music and dance. It is unclear whether this decoration was unique to dancers or if women commonly had it applied. and typically wore the standard men's dress viz. skirt; in the Old and Middle Kingdoms, they would also wear an apron with round edges in the front. == Musical instruments ==

Before the New Kingdom, dancers were mostly accompanied by clapping or percussion instruments. Afterward, performers could dance to a greater range of music with the introduction of stringed instruments like the lute and the lyre. The ancient Egyptians used a vast array of musical instruments such as sistrums, harps, drums, flutes, cymbals, clappers, and tambourines that played a prominent role in melodic compositions of ancient Egyptians composers and musicians. It was rare to find wind or stringed instrument players close to dancers in the same scene. However, it was noted that whenever musicians are depicted, dancers were not generally far away. == Types of dancing ==

Lexová set out classifications for the various dances of the period: the purely movemental dance, the gymnastic dance, the imitative dance, the pair dance, the group dance, the war dance, the dramatic dance, the lyrical dance, the grotesque dance, the funeral dance and the religious dance. Pair dancing In pair dancing, two people of the same gender would perform together. Old Kingdom performers included a specialized group of female dancers called "the acacia house". Dances by the acacia house followed mummification and were aimed at appeasing the goddess Sekhmet and rejuvenating and mourning the dead. Khener dancers are often portrayed entertaining the rejuvenated deceased while he eats from the offering table. is named the "Dance of the Weary-ones". Lexová notes an image of the dancers of the dwarf dances wearing similar crowns. Festive dances Among the festivals during which dancing took place the following are enumerated: • Sed festival dances took place during jubilee ceremonies which celebrated the renewal pledge to the king. Such dances varied in accordance to the religious significance and the reflection of the local mythology of the God to whom they were directed. • Valley festival at Thebes celebrates the God Amun's trip from Karnak temple to visit the tombs on the West Bank passing by the sanctuary of Hathor. As the procession moved from one place to another, families rejoiced and danced. • Opet Festival: another event associated with God Amun's visit to his wife Goddess Mut from Karnak Temple to Luxor temple. This procession was marked by groups of women doing acrobatic dances together with dark dancers, probably Nubians who jumped and merged with the drums. • Feast of Min: god of fertility and regeneration: The dancers in this feast were members of his cult. Drawings representing this feast showed priests and monkeys dancing. These drawings could have had a symbolic meaning rather than an actual representation of reality. • Nile Flood Feast: (The New Year celebration): Dancing played a vital role in this festivity as it helped transform the dangerous Sekhmet into the mild Hathor, thereby protecting the ancient land from Sekhmet's evil and deadly demons. These dances included all possible forms of movement including acrobats and exotic foreign dances. ==References==